Harry Potter Moment of the Week #2

No, my dears, you didn't give your Time-Turner one too many twists. I got the dates mixed up on this meme and only realized, at 11:30pm on July 6th, after watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the first time just so I can answer this week's question, that this is actually the topic from last week.

Pook.

Seeing as how I'm too excited to answer this question -and don't yet have an opinion on staying at Hogwarts for five years vs. seven since I haven't even finished Order of the Phoenix yet- I'm going to bloody well answer the Azkaban question anyway!

XD I'm sorry! I love that Ron Weasley 'Bloody Hell!' way too much! XD

Right. This is a tough one, because there are at least THREE* things I would really, really want to change. But I can only pick one. And I'm trying really, really hard to play by the rules here, so here goes.

I would insert the history of the Marauders.

It might seem like a little thing -why else would they have decided to pass on it for the film?- but so much of the character and depth of the story seemed to be wrapped up in the history of those four mischief makers. Ideally, I would have added in:

The Map's origin

The identities of Mooney, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs, in human and animal form

The secret of the Shrieking Shack

The explanation of how the four friends became Animagus

Some of the information was implied, but I really felt the lack of the history was a bit of a gaping hole for Harry. Part of what I love about this book is that it's the first real idea Harry -and I as the reader- get of James Potter. It's the first time we learn anything real or tangible about Harry's dad as a person, instead of as a legend or tragedy. I liked that they used the form of a stag for Harry's Patronus, but without an explanation within the film, this moment where Harry is supposed to feel so close to his dad loses some of its oomph, because we don't know entirely why it's important. While they did talk a lot about James, I think the most emotional connection for me in the book was that James' Animagus was a stag and so was Harry's Patronus.
Plus, the Marauders history! The viewer (if in fact there is such a thing as a viewer of the films who was not also a reader of the books) doesn't get the chance to guffaw over the fact that the insults the Map dishes out at Snape are literally a piece of not only James, but young Lupin and Sirius too! Again, something tangible of his father for Harry to connect with.
Since they bothered putting everything else involving the Shrieking Shack in, why couldn't they tuck in the explanation of Lupin hanging out there during his werewolf phases? Seriously, when Harry and Hermione are following the passage under the Whomping Willow and Harry says he suspects where it's going to lead, I laughed. There was no way for him to know anything!
Without the backstory details of the Marauders and their Animagi, the confrontation between Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew feels disjointed and jumbled. While the basic ideas are relayed, the finer points were definitely missing for me.
There were lots of pieces in this movie that felt just a little off and I think the inclusion of the Marauders history would have done the most to make much of it a little more cohesive.
So that was a longer answer than I expected to write, but there you have it.
*Don't worry; the other two things will probably turn up in a post fairly soon. ;)

10 comments:

Eeeep! Looks like I missed your post when it went up - sorry! You can definitely answer ANY question you wish for your Harry Potter Moment...no worries there :) I agree: I would have LOVED for the Marauders history to be added into the movie. I adore (most of) them so the extra plot in the film would have been wonderful. If you haven't read the books, that aspect of the story is just lacking in the films!

No worries, Micheline; I only posted it this morning.Exactly! If you haven't read the books, you don't get all the details from James' past up to how exactly he and Lily were betrayed to the Dark Lord and that feels *huge!*I must say though that the Map itself was absolutely gorgeous.

Doh! What a great answer. I thought about this question forever and couldn't come up with anything. I loved Micheline's response about Gambon as Dumbledore, but this is such a wonderful answer as well. I absolutely loved learning the little tidbits about the Marauders. My son watched the movies before reading the books and didn't understand all about the Marauders so I had to explain it to him until he had the books read. I do have a lot of friends that don't read at all, but have watched the films so it has happened LOL

I still have trouble believing there are people who would watch the films and not want to read the books. But I guess I've done that with the Divergent series, so...Micheline's was great! Thanks so much for stopping by, Jaclyn!

I LOVED reading about the Marauders in PoA and definitely wish that more time could have been spent on their backstory in the film. I really, really hope that JKR writes a Marauders prequel one day, and then maybe that could get turned into a movie so we could get their entire story. :D

I agree with you, I would love them to be in the movies more. Everything's better with more of the Marauders. I wish we could get more of their story in general, either in Hogwarts or after they graduate and join the Order of the Phoenix. Yeah, I would just like more of them.lol

You are absolutely correct, I really wish we would have gotten that Marauder's backgrounds in the movie. That was one of the best parts of the book and it makes everything so much clearer. I'm curious to know what your other two changes would be. Great post!

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